A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE USE OF ORGANISATIONAL AND MANAGEMENT THEORIES IN REVERSE LOGISTICS STUDIES

Background: Reverse logistics studies have received increasing attention in academic, organisational, and management research. Researchers have contributed to this field by borrowing theories from sustainable business research. However, there is a lack of literature reviewing the development and contribution of reverse logistics studies in organisational and management theories. By identifying the most frequently used management theories, this paper fills the gap and describes the theoretical contribution of reverse logistics papers to organisational and management theories.

Methods: Using the vote-counting technique, this article reviews 122 papers published between 2005 and 2021 to assess how organisational and management theories developed in the studies of reverse logistics.

Results: The analysis indicates that, while some, such as triple bottom line and critical success factors, have been frequently employed, the relation between reverse logistics and sustainability and other organisational theories remain undeveloped. It also discovered that the research topics only focused on product and material recycling, but few on product return and exchange logistics.

Conclusions: First, there is a huge gap in organisational and management theories and reverse logistics studies. It is suggested that scholars involved in reverse logistics studies can explore more connections between reverse logistics strategies and management theories in future research. Second, more theories should be used in addition to triple bottom line and critical success factors in reverse logistics research. Furthermore, although some incorporated other factors into the management theories and developed a framework after examining their interrelationship, little contribution has been made to the theories themselves. Additionally, more discussion of reverse logistics in the field can focus on product return and exchange logistics.